how early is too early to blow up out the office? 2PM seems kinda absurd. I think 3PM on Friday before July 4th might be fair game.
Truckers are just the best deponents. I've got two cases right now where I can't wait to depose the trucker.
as a plaintiff's attorney has anyone ever gained business by being in super lawyers? my boss is in it and wants me to look into what marketing opportunities it provides. i mean you market to other lawyers. i doubt you get many referrals from it. seems like a big waste of money to me. more of a look at me circle jerk. looks like they have 2 page ads in the magazine for like 10k lol
Only reason I am here is to enjoy watching the real estate associate down the hall shit himself trying to close a $50M deal. Buyer's counsel is out for lunch ... at 2:45.
It's equivalent to those "Who's Who in America's High Schools" scams that parents pay for during the kid's senior year
i find Trusts lawyers on there and send them nasty criminal clients with the explanation that "the attorney will act very coy as if he doesn't do criminal. just go to his office."
Convinced the firm to do radio advertising and find law. Just got us signed up for find law, bought top spots for the entire MS gulf coast for brain injury, PI, wrongful death, probate/estates, MVA, and comp(5 top spots per category and they rotate periodically-they never sell more than 5 per category). $996 a month. Thought it was interesting that criminal defense was the most expensive spot here-it's like $800 a month. Family law was like $600. They had all 5 trucking injury top spots booked so couldn't get in on that. Getting 40 radio ads 30 seconds each for $1000 a month. Developed the content and they're sending me the actual recording of the voice/music and ad tomorrow. Hopefully between these two things we see some more cases. Minimum limits here is $25,000 so one car wreck=$10,000 in fees so you'd think these things would pay for themselves plus decent ROI.
So now that my article in the Mississippi trial lawyer magazine got published I'll post it here. Feel free to call me an idiot or wrong: "I made a big mistake by not telling my life care planner that her deposition would be videoed. She walked into the conference room and saw the ominous video camera looming. She was rattled. People want to know they are going to be on camera. They might dress extra nice that day. They will probably pay particular attention to their hair. Therefore, rule #1 is to tell your life care planner that she is going to be videoed. Defense lawyers have many strategies for undermining your life care planner. This article will address some of them and hopefully offer some useful solutions. Defense lawyers will attempt to portray a nurse life care planner as unqualified. The following are examples of actual questions defense lawyers have asked my nurse life care planner in depositions: “Just for the record to be clear, you are a nurse?” “You can’t prescribe medications, can you?” “You can’t prescribe any type of medical treatment, can you?” “And when you talk about these MRIs and EMG studies, you can’t prescribe any of those diagnostics tests either, can you?” “You can’t prescribe a physical therapy regimen, can you?” You must prepare your life care planner for this line of attack. If properly prepared the life care planner will throw these questions back in the defense lawyer’s face. For example, “No I can’t prescribe medication. But I’ve been a life care planner for thirty years. I’ve created thousands of life care plans. I’ve worked closely with doctors in coordinating the treatment of catastrophically injured patients. Insurance companies rely on my expertise to properly develop life care plans. I have thirty years of nurse case manager experience, I worked as a RN at a hospital for 10+ years, and I’m a certified life care planner and a certified Medicare set aside consultant. So I’m definitely qualified to put together a life care plan.” Nurses carry a great deal of experience and credibility. So do not run from it, embrace it. Another strategy of defense lawyers is to portray the life care plan as speculative. The defense lawyer will try to garner an admission that the treatment included in the life care plan is hypothetical and not certain. Your life care planner obviously cannot read into the future. They determine the cost of future medical treatment based on the testimony and medical records of the treating physicians. The defense lawyer will pound on your life care planner repeatedly. The following are actual questions from defense lawyers to my life care planner: “There’s a degree of uncertainty in projecting future medical treatment, in terms of what’s going to happen, especially as a person gets into their older and advanced age?” “And regarding your life care plan, if, for whatever reason, a heart attack or the things that sometimes happen to a person later in life were to cause the plaintiff to die earlier than 30 years, the life care plan would be—significantly need to be modified, correct?” Your life care planner cannot show even a small crack in her armor. If she shows even a hint of vulnerability, the defense lawyers will be like sharks with blood in the water. Every single time the defense lawyer poses these questions she must calmly say, “I’ve based my plan on what the medical providers have stated thus far in their records and deposition testimony. I’ve also based it on my 30 years of experience in life care planning, Medicare set asides, and nurse case management. Therefore, it’s more likely than not that this treatment will be required and that my plan is accurate.” Another way your life care planner can counter attack the defense’s claims of speculation is through the law of averages. Life care plans are based on future life expectancy tables. But life expectancy tables utilize averages. This means many people live longer than the averages outlined in the table. The defense lawyer wants your life care planner to admit that if your client dies of a heart attack, that the life care plan will be incorrect. However, it is just as likely that your client will out live the life care plan. And what happens if your client out lives the plan? Your client ends up with a horrific medical condition without the financial means for treatment. Talk about this counterattack with your life care planner and have her turn the tables on the defense lawyers. An additional defense tactic is to harp on preexisting injuries. A defense lawyer once asked my life care planner the following question: “Would you agree with me that if his preexisting condition is what really is causing his problems, it has a lot to do with your plan. Wouldn’t you agree with that?” If a preexisting injury is part of your claim, decide whether your life care planner should review the preexisting injury records. You must also determine how far back your planner should review. Of course you will end up paying your expert more to review more records. However, when the defense lawyer asks your life care planner whether they reviewed the records from the preexisting injury, you want your life care planner to say she has. It helps with credibility. And if she is going to testify that her plan is only for the subject injury, then she needs to know what is preexisting. Your life care planner will probably include future diagnostic testing as part of their life care plan. The defense will try to claim that future testing will be unrelated to the subject injury. This is especially true if your client had a preexisting injury. Question from defense lawyer: “But that could be totally unrelated to this automobile accident? You would agree with that?” Your life care planner should explain that injuries, especially spinal cord injuries, can become unstable over time. They can change as the body degenerates. The injury can worsen. This degenerative process is partially why your life care planner included the cost of imaging and diagnostic testing. Your life care planner should explain that if your client has increased symptoms the pain management doctor will order imaging. Of course you can explain in closing that under the egg shell skull jury instruction the defendant takes the plaintiff as they come. This jury instruction entitles your client to compensation for exacerbation of preexisting injuries. You should argue that because your client suffered from a preexisting condition, he was uniquely susceptible to further injury. Finally, do not over reach with your life care plan. One of my clients suffered two separate and distinct spinal cord injuries arising out of the same transaction. At the time of the life care plan my client had mostly treated for her cervical chord syndrome. However, my client also had a severely herniated disc at L5/S1. The treating physician testified in his deposition that this disc injury was also caused by the subject incident. My client’s treatment for the lumbar injury at the time of the life care plan only included epidural injections. It seemed likely that she would need a spinal cord stimulator, pain pump, or surgery. However, the progression of her treatment had not reached that stage. The treating physician would not go on record saying that she would definitely need a stimulator or surgery. He wanted to try conservative treatment first. My life care planner and I weighed the risk and benefits of including a stimulator or surgery in the life care plan. But the bottom line is your life care planner needs to be credible. And if you go out on a limb and overreach to try and increase your future medicals, you will ultimately undermine your life care planner’s credibility. Attorneys should spend at least half a day with their life care planners preparing them to testify. Every detail of the life care plan should be examined. The life care planner should be prepared for the issues discussed above. A well prepared life care planner is like a brick wall to the defense lawyers. And that is a beautiful thing."
have the biggest depo of my life on monday. depo of defendant doctor in medical malpractice death case. our computer system says i've put in 259 hours on this case but its much more than that because i'm doing stuff away from the office that isnt getting counted.
just jammed stp wicked garden all the way to the office-ready to rip opposing counsel a new one in a comp hearing to compel medical coverage and temporary benefits in about 2 hours. challenging case. my client didn't complain about her back injury to any of her doctors for months and then got in a car wreck after the comp injury. she's had surgery. opposing counsel very aggressive said there will be no offer defending on the merits. real pissed that i alleged bad faith. my ace in the sleeve-i got the treating neuro to write a letter giving me causation from the comp injury. just won a comp hearing against opposing counsel in a different case -two in a row would maybe rustle his jimmies as he's been doing this for 30+ years and is the exclusive comp defense lawyer for biggest insurance defense firm down here. we . shall. see.
why did you even sign up that case? there really isn't any comp work in texas, so i might be missing something.
I was supposed to have a trial this week, but there were two in front of us that failed to settle. We still had to show up to the docket call this morning (and I still had to prep it all weekend), in case either settled or another judge was willing to take it. We show up and the plaintiff is wearing head-to-toe white. White Alabama hat, white du-rag, white sunglasses, white shirt, white pants, a dozen or so gold chains, and Timbs. He's also wearing a knee brace and using a crutch. The judge calls the docket and realizes there's no way they'll get to us, then gets word that no other judge is available to take us. So, he calls the lawyers and parties up to the bench to explain the continuance and figure out possible future dates. As he's talking to us, the plaintiff just falls out. Straight up collapses, throwing his crutch and just going dead weight into the guy I brought with me to help strike a jury. He has a heart condition, so the judge ended up calling an ambulance. Nine first responders roll in with one of those Stryker gurneys, a defibrillator, oxygen tank, etc. and tend to him. He ends up being fine and leaves walking on his crutch. Cannot wait to try this one the next go-round.
lollllllllll how many attys show up to the docket calls in bham? in houston some of the judges say you have to show up to docket call even if you're like 30th on the docket, and there can somtimes be like 75 attorneys in there. that would've been hilarious.
There were only three cases left on today's docket, but one case had 6 lawyers in it. Add in parties and the judge's other business, there were probably 25-30 people in the room.
Referred a case to A+ attorney MORBO! a while back. A+ attorney MORBO! got a great result today at mediation. What a swell guy.
Thanks, friend. Just need to hope the employer doesn't try to screw client on vested benefits or the whole settlement might blow up because they're demanding either resignation or retirement.
pointless. When I filed the motion to compel indemnity and medical treatment I didn't know she was at MMI. I signed her up, she needed some money coming in so I filed the motion. Then after filing the motion I sent a causation/opinion letter to treating near who said she's at MMI and gave me causation. Once you're at MMI you can't get temporary benefits any more. So they judge just told us we need to have a formal hearing on the merits. I guess it was good to touch base with the judge , lay all our arguments out, and get some direction on this case. They are claiming that if she did suffer a work injury that the car wreck is a superseding cause and the work injury didn't do any actual damage. They also say the treating neuro didn't know the complete history and once they lay it all out there for him at his deposition then he'll change his mind on causation.
it's a back injury case with surgery. she gets up to 450 weeks of copmensation at 2/3 her average weekly wage (the weeks depend on what her loss of wage earning capacity is) + future medical benefits if I win and I get 25% of whatever that number is. Also I enjoy challenging cases and fighting with defense attorneys.
took depo of defendant doctor yesterday. As advertised he was a super slick witness and had an answer for everything. At one point I asked what I thought was a normal question in a normal demeanor and he kept commenting on how he didn't appreciate the question or the way I asked it. I asked him what about the question he didn't appreciate and his lawyer got all puffy and started saying I was condescending. It was weird. His lawyer also announced that he's objecting to any reptilian tactics. The whole case goes down to a timeline in the PACU where its clear that my client has super low respiratory rate and heart rate at 11:13AM and continues to destabilize until she is brain dead around 11:35AM. CPR isn't given until 11:26 and she's not intubated until 11:30. IMO she suffers anoxic brain injury far before she gets CPR or intubated. It also says the doc is notified at 11:15 and doesn't arrive until 11:20. So in a hypoxic injury case and a failure to revive case the minute by minute timeline is everything. Anoxic brain injury sets in after 4 minutes. The docs answer to all this -the timeline from the PACU nurse is complete BS and can't be used because it was done after the fact and conflicts with itself so his memory of what happened over 2 years ago is more accurate on a minute by minute basis than the timeline in the medical record. How would you respond to this? I'm thinking the jury could see through that BS for themselves. Can't think of any motion to file or any other specific strategy. Focus grouping this case on Friday can't wait.
You should ask him really specific things about where he was on specific dates two years ago and see if he remembers? What he was wearing June 28, 2014? What he ate? How many patients he saw? Likely his response to the patients will be that he would need to check his notes. Then attack on that regarding his memory versus the nurse's notes. Just spitballin' here...
always videotape witnesses like this actually I'm hard pressed to think of a witness you shouldn't videotape but especially these
well when the subject nerve block was over and my patient was sent to the PACU he went and did another procedure. he was just finishing that procedure when the PACU called him and said my client was coding. i asked him what kind of procedure he did in the mean time and he couldn't remember the exact details of what kind of procedure it was. he can't remember exactly how many patients he saw that day. obviously no one can remember that much detail from 2 years ago. my client had a history of epilepsy and he claims she had a spontaneous grand mal seizure in the PACU which caused her to arrest.
Well there you have it. Unless I misunderstood your original post in one breathe he claims his memory is more accurate than a nurse's notes that were put on paper either the day of or the day after. Then in the next breathe he points out that he can't remember that type of info. Wreck his reliability on cross.
agreed. I'd think the jury will be smart enough to realize that the medical records are all we have in these cases. The PACU timeline, recorded by a nurse as it was happening or shortly thereafter, is more accurate as to what happened on a minute by minute basis over 2 years ago than a doctors memory today. You can't remember exactly what you did on a minute by minute basis with any degree of accuracy for a specific date over 2 years ago. I think a jury is smart enough to figure that out. I also think medical records are the most accurate and important pieces of information we have in these cases. I'm going to ask the focus group on Friday what they think about this excuse.
hmmm well sounds like a lot of work without much hope of getting paid. keep us updated on how this one goes. good luck bud.
you're probably right. I take some cases I shouldn't take. You also have to fight the hard fights to show defense lawyers you aren't messing around and you'll go to the mat.
On cases like that, all you really have to lose is your time. Give it a go, and try to make a miracle. Your client will love you, you might pull it off and get a good settlement, and you know damn well that client will send any future referrals your way for everything you did.* *Unless they're one of those assholes who don't understand how little a chance they had to begin with and think you lost because you did shit work.
would you get a bonus or anything if you recover something from the case? if not, seems like you're doing a ton of work to maybe make your boss some money.
i'm always doing work to make my boss money. i get salary and a percentage of every dollar i bring in. I don't see how its any different than taking a MIST case or a difficult liability low dollar case. And if the doc goes to bat for me at the depo then it could be a 50k case which we'd get 25% of.
wes tegg colonel_forbin District Court, jurisdictional limit is $10K. We have a new DC case with 3 plaintiffs. Is it $10K total, or $10K each? I can't find shit on it. Code Section 12-12-30 states: Civil jurisdiction generally. The original civil jurisdiction of the district court of Alabama shall be uniform throughout the state, concurrent with the circuit court, except as otherwise provided, and shall include all civil actions in which the matter in controversy does not exceed ten thousand dollars ($10,000), The bolded me think it's $10K total, but I'm having a real hard time finding anything confirming that. I asked some lawyers around my office and they said they've seen it both ways. Just wondering if either of you have run across this or can point me in the right direction. Muchos gracias